


Before The Storm

by AmeInTheRain



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, High School, M/M, Merpeople, Ocean, Original Character(s), Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Romance, The Author Regrets Nothing, This surprises no one, cyan is trans, me at thalia and cillian’s relationship: JUST LET THEM BE HAPPY, mermaid, merman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2019-11-05 19:16:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17924726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmeInTheRain/pseuds/AmeInTheRain
Summary: There’s a storm brewing, both inside and out.Can Cyan really trust these people with his secret?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello! i’ve been thinking of my gay merboy so here
> 
>  
> 
> also fyi, Eye to Eye is not over, its currently on a little bit of a hiatus after i put out a few chapters of this

“Cillian this is Cyan. Cyan this Cillian.” Thalia smiles. “Play nice!” She says and walks away.

“Thy, what the hell’s that supposed to mean?!” Cillian yells.

No response.

Cillian turns back to Cyan.

“Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, Cyan. It’s Cyan, right.” Cillian holds out his hand for Cyan to shake. Cyan takes his hand. 

“Yeah, nice to meet you too.” Cyan says. “To be honest, I would have left this stupid party if it hadn’t been for you guys.” He laughs. “School parties suck.”

“Agreed.” Cillian takes a sip of his punch. “Even this taste depressing. How can liquid even be depressing?” 

That comment makes Cyan chuckle that goddamn laugh, Cillian’s cheeks tint a shade of pink, hopefully Cyan won’t notice.

“You’re blushing.” Cyan states. Yeah, Cyan you have eyes.

“Who? Me? It’s just hot in here.”

“I wasn’t born yesterday Cillian. Don’t go falling for me just yet.” Cyan tugs up on the sleeve of his jacket. “It’s a horrible decision, really.”

Cillian has no words.

Cyan carefully takes a sip of his water, when someone from behind bumps into him, spilling the water all over him.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” The girl looks mortified. Cyan says nothing, he can already feel the scales pushing through his skin.

He takes off for the men’s bathroom. He’s secretly glad that 1. No one is in here and 2. If someone was here, he’s far enough in that no one would say anything about it, until he flops on the floor and chaos unfolds.

Cillian takes off after him, following Cyan into the restroom.

“Cy? You in here?” Cyan moves himself behind the bathroom stall wall, away from Cillian’s sight. 

“If you’re embarrassed that’s fine, don’t worry.” Cillian keeps shouting out to him, but he receives nothing in return.

“Seriously, Cillian it’s fine. Don’t worry about me.” Cyan begins aggressively rubbing his tail with toilet paper in hopes that it will dry, but to no avail.

“Can I get you anything?”

“Paper towels.” Cyan doesn’t hesitate saying that.

A hand appears from under the door, holding a handful of towels, and tries to feel around, possibly to find Cyan, but things go horribly awry when said hand grazes its fingers against Cyan’s tail. 

Cillian’s hand tries to feel it more, making Cyan move away from it. Leading to one of his fins in plain sight of Cillian’s field of vision.

“What’s that?” Cillian calls out.

“Nothing. It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” Cyan stutters.

The room falls silent for a few moments. Neither of them speak. Until:

“Here, Cy, can I come in? I can help you dry off, it’s fine if you’re embarrassed.” Cillian’s voice is calm.

Another moment of silence.

Cillian hears the stall door unlock, he gently pushes the door opens.

And in the corner curled up in as small of a ball he can become, is Cyan, with his jacket over his legs. But Cillian can see that same gold, fin-like thing poking out from underneath Cyan’s jacket. 

“Sorry,” Cyan says. “Let’s forget about this alright?” He tries to stand up, he thinks that the tail is now splitting apart and losing its color.

Cyan puts his jacket back on.

As Cyan passes by Cillian, Cillian grabs his wrist. 

“Can you maybe, tell me about this? Later?” He asks.

Cyan nods gently and walks out.

-=-

“Hey Cyan, this is Cillian. I’m really sorry about last night, I took things way too far and I’m sorry you felt the need to run away. If you would feel comfortable telling me about what I saw last night, please tell me.” 

Sent at 10:30 am.

10:45: nothing.12:00: nothing.

1:15: nothing

1:32: Cyan typed something but didn’t send it.

4:14: “What did you think you saw?”

Dah, frick. Cillian’s screwed.

It took him a good few minutes to reply.

4:25: “What do you mean?”

4:57: nothing. Cillian was getting worried. He dialed Cyan’s phone number. The phone rang a few times before Cyan picked up. A solemn voice spoke:

“What..?”

“I just wanted to know if you were okay. I feel that I kind of invaded your space last night?”

Cyan paused.

“You didn’t know.” 

He didn’t know what?

“Cyan, what do you mean?”

“Look, really it’s nothing, sorry for getting you into this.” Cyan says.

“Wait I-“ Cyan hangs up the phone.

Cillian falls back onto his bed letting out a heavy sigh.

 

-=-

Cyan avoided him at school the next day.

Hopefully, a nice swim in the ocean would calm his nerves. Thalia’s parent’s house was just a few blocks away from the pier so swimming was a common occurrence for Cillian.

Cillian finds a place to put his things and takes off his shirt. 

It’s 9:30 on a Tuesday night, not many people are out so he has the beach to himself.

Cillian carefully wades into the shallow water, until he sees a human shaped figure sitting on the edge of the rocks. He catches a glint of that same gold fin-thing he saw last night. 

The figure looks at Cillian when it hears him step onto the rocks. It immediately starts stumbling away when its hand slips, sending it spiraling into the water. 

And by the looks of it: the thing can’t swim.

Cillian dives into the water to pull it back up.

His eyes are closed when he’s underwater so he honestly has no clue what this thing is. Cillian grabs what feels to be its hips and pulls it up towards the surface. The thing’s hips are coated in what feels to be scales. He jerks his hand back when he realizes it.

“Are you okay?” Cillian asks, rubbing his eyes. 

There’s no response, only the sound of moving water.

It swam away.

Cillian sighs again and swims back to shore. That took everything out of him. Cillian begins to doze off.

-=-

Cillian’s eyelids slowly flutter open, his vision is blurry but he can make out the figure of someone staring over him.

By the looks of it, it has dark teal hair, gentle eyes, and what looks to be fins where its ears should have been.

He can’t see anything without his glasses, but the figure doesn’t have legs, just a tail, like a fish.

Cillian stumbles back after realizing that this thing isn’t exactly human. The merperson stumbles back in response, driving it back into the water. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!” The person splashes back into the water.

-=-

“Thy what are you doing?”

“I’m feeding my pet rock.” Thalia responsed. “Why, what are you doing?”

Cillian sighs and flops on his bed.

“Oh god. It worked.” Thalia gasps.

“What worked?!” Cillian yells. 

“I made you fall for Cyan!” She yells back. “I didn’t think I would win this bet, holy shit.” Thalia laughs.

“GOOD NIGHT, THALIA!”

-=-

Mace and Nia were out of town for the weekend, so Cyan had the house to himself. This also meant he could take a bath without worrying about… that.

He filled up the bathtub with warm water and slowly got in.

In about 20 seconds he begins to feel the scales pushing through his skin and his legs beginning to fuse. 

Cyan inhales sharply as his feet enlongate and become a large gold fan of a fin.

He just sits there. For 15 minutes. Just, staring at it.

He finally drains the tub and waits for himself to dry.

Whenever he gets his legs back is the weirdest part. The tail begins to split and lose its color until he can walk again. But even then, his feet are still fins, he waits another few minutes until his legs look normal again. And EVEN THEN, the fins on his arms, back, and ears and the gills under his rib cage still stay on his body, even when he’s dry.

He never had anyone to go to and in that, he was very much alone.

-=-

Thalia: heyo cy, this is thalia. me and cillian were wondering if you’d like to come over for dinner tonight @ 6?

Cyan: I’d love to! I’ll be there.

-=-

Why did he say yes? This was a horrible decision. He should just go home.

And yet, Cyan still rings the doorbell. Thankfully, Thalia opens the door.

“Hey Cyan!” She looks down at the dish Cyan is holding. “Oh sweet! What’d you make?”

“Oh this?” Cyan looks down at the dish. “I tried to make some talapia. It’s basically just fish with some lemon and seasoning.” He smiles. 

“Well, it looks delicious,” Thalia says. “Here, come inside, please.” She gestures him in.


	2. Chapter 2

“We should go for a quick swim in our pool!” Thalia smiles.

Cyan tenses up. “Oh umm, I didn’t bring any swimwear.” He chuckles nervously.

“Oh it’s fine, you can borrow Cillian’s.”

“Look, Thy, I appreciate the gesture but the truth is…” Cyan stumbles over words in his mind. “I actually can’t swim.” He lies. 

“Oh that’s fine, it’s still pretty shallow. Or you can sit on a chair or in the hot tub.”

Thalia is trying to reason with him.

She’s doing an awful job at it.

-=-

Cyan just decided to sit on one the chairs by the pool.

“You’re not even gonna take your jacket off?” Cillian teases. 

“Oh uhh yeah I forgot about that.” Cyan flushes and takes off his jacket, revealing a long sleeved shirt underneath.

When Cillian gets out of the pool, he sits right next to Cyan, and he’s soaking wet.

“What’chya readin’?” He asks.

“Something about marine biology, I don’t really know-“

Right then, Thalia shoots a water gun directly at Cillian, Cyan being soaked as well.

“Oh, shoot, I’m so sorry Cyan.” Thalia chuckles.

‘Why now?’ Cyan asks himself. He immediately bolts for the restroom and locks the door.

He wasn’t too wet, but there were more scales on his legs and his legs were slightly fusing together that it was hard to walk. Especially, when it began ripping through his pants, which that in of itself was embarrassing. 

Someone knocks on the door.

“Hey Cy? You in here?” It’s Cillian.

“Yeah, it’s fine don’t worry, okay?” Cyan replies. He dries himself off and opens the door, Cillian waiting for him.

-=-

Everything was a blur after that.

Cyan remembers waking up in a bed that’s not his. The bed is so soft and silky. The sheets seem to dissolve with Cyan’s touch. The pillows and mattress surround him in their grasp. It’s the best sleep of his life.

But where in the goddamn hell is he.

He opens the door to a house that’s not his. And walks down the stairs that aren’t his. Until he finds Cillian, who is sleeping peacefully on the couch that’s not his.

Cyan won’t admit it but he does think that Cillian looks cute when he’s asleep.

It makes him wish he could see more of that.

Right, Cyan, you’re getting off topic. 

Who’s house is this, again?

Right, Thalia and Cillian’s house. Okay. 

Okay.

Okay.

He’ll be fine, he’ll just go back to sleep and pretend that he never woke up in the first place. Problem solved-

Wait.

No, that’s not right.

Why is Cyan’s beanie of the nightstand?

Cyan feels around his face up to his ears, where, sure enough, the exposed fins that functioned as his ears.

Shit.

Shit shit shit. This is bad.

This is really bad. 

Okay, Cyan Fischer get your gay ass together.

Excuse #1: Cyan took it off himself before going to sleep.

Excuse #2: Cillian is just that kind of guy who won’t mention it.

Wait, no. That won’t work.

Cyan recalled the dance a few weeks ago, where Cillian saw Cyan’s fluke and asked him about it the next day.

Excuse #3: Cillian’s a nice guy and won’t ask him about it.

Or…

Excuse #4: panic.


	3. Chapter 3

Cyan hated showers. He hated most things involving water. 

Mainly because he was terrified of it, and second… never mind.

So at age 14, right after surgery, he finally got to take a shower without worry.

Cyan made sure the water wasn’t too hot, and stepped inside.

He was almost finished when he began finding it harder and harder to keep himself upright, like his legs were glued together.

Cyan desperately grabs onto the railing to keep himself from falling over.

He lowers himself so he can get out without hurting himself.

Cyan grabs the nearest towel and begins to dry himself off. It was at that moment where he realized that blueish green scales were forming around his chest, shoulders and legs.

Like any rational human being in this situation, he began panicking. 

-=-

Cyan never knew his parents. Only that his father died and his mother is missing.

He could honestly care less about it, he has bigger things to worry about. Like him growing goddamn gills and fins. 

He was panicking, thinking that this was a rare side effect of the pills he was taking. Is this what happens when you decide to change your body? Is this his body retaliating? Is this what happens when you start therapy? God, he starts pacing back and forth. He can’t tell Uncle Mace and Auntie Nia about this, they would flip and then make him stop taking his medication and then he’d have to start all the way back at square one.

It’s only when he’s exposed to water, right? So that means if he never gets wet around anyone ever he won’t have to worry about it.

Wait.

No.

Those don’t disappear when he’s dry.

The fins on his back, arms, and what were his ears, never return to looking like actual skin.

And those gills are still there too.

And the scales on his shoulders, cheeks, and scales dotting his rib cage and chest were still there.

He’s screwed. 

-=-

“Hey, Thy, this weird thing happened a few days ago.” Cillian says.

“Hit me with it.” Thalia smirks.

“So, I totally fell asleep on the beach and when I woke up, this guy was staring over me and he didn’t have legs and…” Cillian begins to trail off.

Thalia squints her eyes and Cillian. “Oh god, you’re having those dreams again, aren’t you?” Cillian chucks a pillow at her and she laughs. 

“You’ve totally fallen for him.” Thalia chuckles.

Cillian throws another pillow at her. 

Where is he getting all of these pillows from?

“I barely know him, Thy. Stop pressuring me.”

“Yeah yeah. Whatever.” Thalia complies reluctantly. 

-=-

Cyan wakes up in a bathtub, he’s coated head-to-fin in scales, and he can’t move.

Cyan struggles to look around but can’t do anything. He just lays there unmoving.

He hears a clicking at the door but he can’t do anything to stop it and then-

-=-

He wakes up.

It’s in his bed, the bed he knows. In his house, the house he knows.

He sighs a breath of relief and lays back down.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh sorry for such a long hiatus

Cillian takes out a ukulele from its stand, strums a single note, and screams:

“SUBMITTED FOR THE APPROVAL OF THE MIDNIGHT SOCIETY.”

And then he walks off stage.

No one clapped.

Obviously.

“What’d you think, Ty?” Cillian asks, prentened to flip his hair despite its length.

“I mean, that was one hell of a cold open.” Thalia admits. 

“You’re damn right it was.” He chuckles leaning back into the beanbag. 

Thalia tosses a dollar into Cillian’s face. “Get us some chips or something.” 

Cillian rolls his eyes, but obliges. 

Zoiks’ was usually pretty crowded on a day like tonight, but the more you lurked away from the main event, the smaller the amount of people. Which always means no lines for anything. 

Cillian was almost about to win his battle with the vending machine refusing to take his cash when another kid fell into him.

And well, because Cillian is Cillian, he ends up French Dipping with…

“Oh! Hey Cyan!” Cillian smiles, still in position.

Cyan shifts his eyes. “Cillian, I swear to god.”

Cillian chuckles and lets Cyan stand up on his own. “I didn’t know you were here.” Cillian says.

“I heard you were performing.” He has a flashback of terribly terrible things, oh and then there’s him screaming on stage and immediately walking away. “Let it be known I use the word ‘perform’ very loosely.”

Cillian chuckles. “Hey uhh, this might sound weird but do you maybe want to go down to the beach sometime?”

Cyan cocks his head. “Like as a date..?” 

Cillian flushes. “Yeah, kinda. If that’s okay with you.”

Cyan beams. “I’d loved to!”

-=-

On the night of the date, Cyan put on what he hoped were fancy clothes. I.e a less worn out beanie and a good looking jacket. 

He met up with Cillian at the ice cream parlor on the dock. 

Cillian was wearing a red tank top and. Wait. Is he wearing swimming trunks?

Oh god.

He meant like swimming beach. 

Shit.

“You got really dressed up. Did you even plan on swimming?”

Cyan blushes. “Oh I didn’t know we were gonna swim.”

“Oh it’s fine don’t worry. We can always just wade.”

…yeah.

When they got their ice cream, Cyan and Cillian sat on the rocks and ate.

Cillian then jumped into the ocean unexpectedly, splashing Cyan with water.

“Oops! I’m sorry Cyan.” He chuckles. 

Cyan chuckles nervously. The amount of water wasn’t enough to make him fully turn, but he still felt changes. He could feel scales that were itching to tear through his skin.

Cillian grabbed onto Cyan’s hand. “Come in, the water’s nice!” His hand was soaking wet, making Cyan change even more. That included his hand becoming webbed.

Cillian notices this and jerks back. 

“What was that?” He asks. 

“I-I’m sorry I have to uhh,” Cyan flips through excuses on his brain. “To use the bathroom! Yeah! I’ll be right back.”

Cyan quickly walks down the rocks and disappears. Cillian heard a splash when he couldn’t see Cyan anymore.

-=-

Cyan threw off his clothes and jumped into the water

Cyan’s neck and abdomen began to open up, revealing three slits on each side, he began gasping for water, as his lungs changed to account for the water flooding his system. 

His feet and legs elongated and fused together, forming his tail. Soon enough, blue and gold scales coated every inch of his tail.

His feet stretched and morphed into a fan-like fluke. The fin on his back jutted down his newly formed tail. 

His hands became fully webbed and his fin-like ears stretched taller. He felt his bone rearranging themselves and the tail finished transforming. 

When it was all finished, Cyan sighed. But he could hear Cillian calling from above the water.

Cyan peeks his head above the water.

“Cyan! There you are, I was looking for you!”

Cillian obviously notices the fins. 

“Ummm, sorry. I just kinda panicked.” Cyan sputters like a dying putt putt. 

Cillian tries to ignore them, he must be imagining things. “Did you fall in? I mean, your clothes are on the rocks so did you change your mind?”

“Sure.” Yeah. Great response, Cyan. “Just go do what you were doing I’m gonna be back in a little bit. Sorry.”

-=-

Cyan pulled himself out of the water in a remote inlet, dried himself off and walked back over to Cillian. 

His clothes were still over on the rocks so he really didn’t have a choice. 

He quickly changes back into his, now sun-dired, clothes. “Sorry about that.”

Surprisingly, Cillian was still there. “Oh hey, I thought you bailed on me.” He smiles. 

Cyan sits down next to Cillian and unknowingly rests his head on Cillian’s shoulder. 

Cillian turns pink but he pays no mind. 

“Hey do you wanna get dinner? It totally slipped my mind to ask you, but would you?”

Cyan snaps out of his trance. “Oh, I’d be delighted.”

-=-

The dinner was great, but Cyan kept getting strange looks. He could feel everyone’s eyes on him. 

After dinner, they were walking down the block. It was late and no one was out at this time. 

“This is my house, Mace and Nia are out of town again so you can come hang out for a little bit.” 

Cyan and Cillian walked into Cyan’s house and they sat down on the couch. 

Cyan got back up to get Cillian some water. Cillian’s eye was immediately drawn to the framed photo on the TV stand. 

It was a picture of Cyan’s parents and his aunt and uncle, and… him?

It didn’t look like him at all. Well, they did have the same hair color. Cillian didn’t want to bother Cyan about it. 

“Is that you?” Cillian asks. 

Cyan looks up at realizes what he’s asking him about. “It was. I don’t know why we still have that. I hate looking at it.” He says. 

Cyan sat down next to him and exhaled sharply. 

The two of them sat in silence. Cillian ran his hand through the empty space, clutching Cyan’s hand is his. 

“Cillian…” Cyan sounded like he was barely able to talk. “I’m gonna take this hat and jacket off… I look ridiculous.”

Cyan took Cillian’s hand and took him to the bathroom. 

Cyan lifted his hand and he began shaking. 

“...Just don’t freak out. Please.” He pauses. “Can you close your eyes?” He asks. 

Cillian blushes. “Of course.” He shuts his eyes.

Cyan takes off his jacket and shirt and his beanie. “...You can open them now.”

Cillian’s eyes slowly open. Cyan is cold and pale. 

Cillian immediately notices the gills underneath the two half-moon scars on his chest… and the fins where his ears should have been. And the scales everywhere. 

Cillian puts his hand out to touch Cyan and he flinched at the touch. 

Cyan relaxed and wrapped his hand around Cillian’s. 

Cillian moves his hand to Cyan’s cheek, feeling the coat of scales around his “ears”, then to his neck, he threaded his fingers through Cyan’s hair. 

“Cyan, you’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.” Cillian mutters. 

Tears well up in Cyan’s eyes and Cillian pulls Cyan into a hug. 

Cillian kisses the top of Cyan’s head. 

Cyan pulls back. “...So yeah… I’m a mermaid.” Cyan turns away. 

“Merman.” Cillian corrects him. Cyan chuckles. “So does that mean you have a tail…?” Cillian realizes what he just said. “A-ah, I’m not saying I want to see it, sorry.”

Cyan blushes. “No, it’s fine.” He turns the water on in the bathtub and dunks his legs in. 

Cillian watches in awe as Cyan’s legs morph into a long, slender tail. 

“Woah…” 

The two of them sit there as Cyan dries himself off. 

“I should probably put this back on.” Cyan chuckles as he grabs his jacket. 

Cillian grabs his wrist. “No, I mean, you don’t have to. I don’t mind.”

Cyan turns pink and smiles. “You sure?”

-=-

Cillian guides him out of the bathroom. 

“It feels good to get this off my chest.” Cyan chuckles. “You’re the only one who knows.”

“Well, I’m glad you trust me enough to tell me.” He holds Cyan’s hands and smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr at ame-in-the-rain.tumblr.com


End file.
